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The hour-long chat (#PrepareAthon) will focus on emergency preparedness and provide answers to a host of questions around FEMA's America's PrepareAthon! campaign held on April 30. Find out how to participate, where to find resources to get your started, project ideas and more.

The spring PrepareAthon campaign (the fall portion of the campaign to be held on September 30) is an excellent way to jump start individual and community preparedness activities you may have planned for May 2 for Wildfire Community Preparedness Day (Prep Day).

Don't miss out on a great opportunity to hear about projects and ideas that can help you with your wildfire preparedness plans. By participating in both the PrepareAthon and Prep Day you'll be going a long way to making your community a safer place to live.

Find out more about American's PrepareAthon on FEMA's webpage and stay tuned tomorrow for the Twitter chat! We hope to see you all there!

02/17/2015

The International Association of Fire Chief's WUI conference features some very interesting general sessions. One 2-hour session on March 25th features a discussion in which three guest speakers explore Fire Adapted Communities from the Federal, state and local levels. The three featured speakers are Jim Hubbard, Deputy Chief for State and Private Forestry with the USDA Forest Service, who also served as the state forester in Colorado for 20 years; Ken Pimlott, the Director of CAL FIRE and California’s current state forester; and Justice Jones, the Fire Adapted Community Coordinator for the Austin, Texas, Fire Department. Together these three speakers can provide a diverse look at Fire Adapted Communities.

This session will take a look at Fire Adapted Communities (FAC) by these three experts on wildland fire and the role FAC plays in their agency scope. They will discuss how through the implementation of policies and programs we all can collectively enhance the development of Fire Adapted Communities.

Do you know your role in a Fire Adapted Community and what part you can play? Whether you are a first responder, homeowner, forester, or community leader, you can take part in making your community safer and in making 2015 a “Year of Living Less Dangerously from Wildfire". Attending this conference will help you grow in your understanding not only about how your community can become a Fire Adapted Community but also provide you with other valuable lessons learned.

01/09/2015

In the coming weeks and months, we’ll be sharing 2014 highlights from the Firewise Communities/USA® Recognition Program. We applaud the dedication of the communities across the United States who prepare for wildfire and the focus they bring to preparedness.

Last year, 165 new communities achieved Firewise recognition from 25 different states. The combined volunteer and project work in 2014 for just these new communities to Firewise accounted for over $1.75 million in local preparedness, education and mitigation efforts.

With 27 new communities, Colorado saw the strongest growth in 2014. I asked Courtney Peterson, Wildfire Mitigation Education Coordinator and the State Firewise Liaison with the Colorado State Forest Service, what the value of Firewise is to the state.

Courtney shared with me that, “the Firewise Communities/USA® program is an excellent tool for bringing Colorado communities together. The program enables communities to take ownership in preparing their homes against the threat of wildfire while establishing networks and relationships with local partners.”

In addition to the top 5 growth states, we are equally impressed with the work of all of the new recognized communities, especially where that 1 community rose to the challenge and is now making a difference.

12/08/2014

Currently, 41 states actively participate in the national Firewise Communities/USA® program and represent a combined 1,142 communities that have achieved recognition status for their work to reduce their community’s wildfire risk. Nine of the sites have participated for more than a decade and have been with the program since the original pilot was launched in 2002.

Up until recently, only two states – Arkansas and Washington had achieved the milestone of 100 plus participating communities; Colorado now joins the distinction of attaining the major accomplishment of reaching that benchmark. The Colorado State Forest Service is the program’s state liaison. In their role they work with stakeholders and private homeowners on wildfire mitigation projects and completing the criteria for program recognition. With 105 participating community's, Colorado is now the state with the third highest number of total communities successfully completing the requirements.

The Firewise Communities/USARecognition Program is a process that empowers neighbors to work together in reducing their wildfire risk. Each community must annually demonstrate their on-going efforts of taking action and ownership in preparing and protecting their homes against the threat of wildfire. Using a five-step process, communities develop an action plan that guides their residential risk reduction activities, while engaging and encouraging neighbors to become active participants in building a safer place to live.

The photograph on the right is a screen capture from a You Tube video that was taken using the Electro Optical/Infrared, (EO/IR), sensor equipment on board a Pilatus PC-12 aircraft currently employed by CDFPC. The image was taken from 30,000 feet, to give you an idea of the systems capability.

In the center of the photograph embers are showering out of the top of the heated smoke column, transported by the convection of the fire and wind. You can also see the heat signatures of several small spot fires caused by embers contacting flammable vegetation. Embers can sometimes carry over a mile, depending on weather conditions, topography and the species of vegetation that is burning.

In order for homes to survive these ember storms, Firewise principles must be accomplished by homeowners and communities well before a fire happens. It can mean the difference between survival and total loss. A Firewise home also allows a greater degree of safety for firefighters and can give them a fighting chance to protect your home, themselves, and your community.

11/13/2014

Every year, NFPA reports on large-loss fires and explosions that occurred in the United States the year before. Such fires and explosions are defined as any event that results in property damage of at least $10 million.

Last year, 21 fires in the United States resulted in losses of $10 million or more each. In seven of the past 10 years, wildland fires have produced the largest direct property loss fires in the United States, and five of those have resulted in more than $400 million in damage. This includes 2013, when the Black Forest Fire in Colorado resulted in $420.5 million in damage, the highest loss in terms of direct property loss of any fire that occurred in the country, according to NFPA's "Large-Loss Fires in the United States in 2013" report.

08/12/2014

Perry Park in Colorado is no stranger to devastating wildfires. The community, with a population of less than 2,000 people and over 600 homes, was evacuated during the Hayman Fire of 2002.

The Hayman Fire is considered the largest of the Colorado wildfires in the state’s recorded history. There were hundreds of firefighters who fought the fast-moving fire, it would indirectly and directly be the reason for six deaths, caused nearly $40 million in firefighting costs and forced the evacuation of 5,340 people.

In 2000, the board of directors of the Perry Park Metropolitan District took it upon themselves to address the potential wildfire problem. They received a Colorado State Fire Assistance Grant of $45,000 in order for the community to become more Firewise. The following year they received a second grant of $100,000.

They created the Perry Park Firewise program. The community was surveyed and an overwhelming number of people told the board that wildlife and forest were as important to them as their homes.

The first part of the program was the educational and informational efforts. The board used the message of “Saving the Forest=Saving the Wildfire=Protecting Property Values=Being Firewise” to raise awareness. The second part of the program is slash disposal that works for the community. The amount of fuel that was treated in 2002 was triple what was treated in 2001.

The report looks at residential properties potentially exposed to wildfire risk in 13 western states and evaluates them using four risk levels (low, moderate, high and very high), along with the estimated value of at risk single-family residences. It also includes a summary of properties at risk and their home values by individual state, with a look at risk and damage potential in seven metropolitan areas.

According to the report, more than 200,000 homes in Colorado are highly vulnerable to wildfires; which represents more than 10% of homes in the state (the highest ratio in any state). Those homes with a high-risk have an estimated value of more than $38 billion. The next most exposed states are Montana at 9.1% and Oregon at 8%. But in dollar terms, Texas and California have the most property vulnerable to wildfire.

Both the Denver Post article and the CoreLogic report have some great data, trends and projections that describe the scope of the wildfire landscape in the west.

They outline steps that need to be taken that include: building resilience in communities on the frontlines of risk, reducing the expansion of development near fire-prone areas and cutting the emissions fueling climate change; all of which will be crucial to limiting the impacts of wildfires on people and forests.

There's also a lot of great data, maps, photos and charts that you'll virtually dog-ear to include in future PowerPoints. So when you’re carving out time for some work related reading, add this one to your list!

07/22/2014

NFPA has gotten a lot of requests lately from our friends in the states wanting to know "where do we rank with Firewise?" Of course, they are referring to the numbers of active Firewise Communities/USA sites in each state.

Check out this list, pulled from our data just yesterday. These 11 states (two are tied for 7th place) represent 75% of all active Firewise communities in the country - nearly 1,100 sites to date.

Yes, Arkansas is still the top state to beat (and their Governor is rightly proud of this). We hope that with all the fire activity in Washington state during the past few weeks that their excellent showing in community engagement and wildfire safety action will pay off in terms of homes saved and property protected.

Visit www.firewise.org/usa for more information on how to apply wildfire safety principles in your community and gain recognition for your neighborhood's risk reduction actions.